Webcomic / Harpy Gee

Harpy Gee is a web comic by animator Brianne Drouhard (producer of the Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld cartoon, among other works).

An Elf, a Witch, a Knight, a Prince, and an Item Shop!

Taking place in a fantasy world that bears more than a few resemblances to an RPG adventure game, the comic centers are a young elf girl named Gigi "Harpy" Geranium, who finds herself in the quaint town of Podunkello after breaking her sword. She immediately befriends Opal, the local witch doctor, who offers her a place to stay and a new job working at her Item Shop. Despite some initial gruffness from the shop's other tenant, naive but eager palace guard Ash, Harpy is eager to start her first day working at the shop. Things seem to go well until the eternally grumpy Prince Humphrey wanders in trying to sell a dumb pooch, unintentionally kicking off a complex adventure in a seemingly simple kingdom that thrives on secrets and debts yet to be paid...

Originally hosted on Dumm Comics, it now has its own page as part of the Hiveworks collective and as of mid 2018 updates on its official site exclusively.

Now has a character page, please contribute.

An animated short courtesy of Nickelodeon Animation Studios was released in 2018. The short was the pilot for a since-passed on animated series.

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Tropes featured in Harpy Gee include:

• Animesque: Adopts the style, course those who've seen Brianne's usual work know this is par for the course from her.
• Anti-Magic: As a result of colliding with a young Pumpkin as a child, Harpy lost her magic but remained alive, becoming immune to it in the process.
• Bag of Holding: Harpy's cat, Pumpkin, is a living version of this.
• Behind the Black: While the Duke speaks with Harpy after putting her in a cell, Humphrey, Opal, and Ash shove his huge guard into another cell, along with the thief, while standing right behind him. The Duke doesn't notice until he turns around since it happened off-panel and apparently while making no noise.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Though more from an Anger Born of Worry angle, you can cut the tension with a knife in this spat between Harpy and Humphrey.
• Blackmail:
  • The Duke is a fan of this, particularly deploying it against the anti-social and obstinate Humphrey by threatening to send him back to his family or reminding him that he still hasn't forced Humphrey to explain how he arrived at the castle. Multiple characters warn the protagonists of not trusting the Duke and his blatant deployment of this trope is the most obvious reason why.
  • He pulls off a masterstroke at the same party in Chapter 1. First he forces Humphrey to go dance with Harpy when he refuses to participate in social activities. Almost immediately after he gets Harpy to go rescue Humphrey from dragons by revealing he knows her old mentor Wolf and that he'll reveal her location to him.
• Black Comedy Burst: When a dragon attacks a party, one of the guards, Dude Bro, gets eaten. The dragon spits out his flaming skull. Everyone pretty quickly moves on and any future references to Dude Bro are always jokes relating to his death.
  Ash: Harpy! You have to teach me how you [beat that dragon]!
  Harpy: Wasn't your buddy just incinerated?
  Ash: Oh yeah! That was scary!
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Urtica is able to possess monsters to do its bidding, leading it to possess Pumpkin during the initial encounter. Later Urtica comes back and possesses both Pumpkin and Humphrey, who is apparently enough of a monster now to count. Harpy uses a monster toy to get both of their attention which breaks the mind control. A threat to possess Humphrey a second time and have him kill Harpy causes her to trigger his fire breath and burn Urtica up... but it also freaks Humphrey out enough that he blows up at Harpy over her recklessness.
• Bratty Half-Pint:
  • Zipper, Hotdog and Trigger, even mentioned as such on the old character page.
  • Harpy as a child.
• Bridal Carry: Humphrey carries Harpy like this a few times inside and outside of the comic, usually when he's flying her down.
• Call a Pegasus a "Hippogriff": The "ogres" in the comic look more like minotaurs.
• Cardiovascular Love:
  • A good chunk of the interactions between Harpy and Humphrey (especially from Chapter 5 onwards) have hearts littering the scene, whether they come from the characters themselves, the scenery around them, or the dialogue.
  • There's a more mild and subdued version of this between Opal and Halesia.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Quite a bit in the first chapter. Humphrey frequently critiques his own rescue while it's in progress. Later Harpy does the same when Humphrey dives off the dragon to try and save her from falling, revealing he had wings and theoretically could have just flown away. He then promptly reveals his extreme motion sickness, leading Harpy to beg for help before he passes out and/or throws up on her.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • Rare example where it's a plot point. In Chapter 4, Humphrey earlier speaks to Harpy's magic inside of Pumpkin, who tells him to hug her and tell her she's doing okay. When he's finally back in his normal form, Harpy is having an emotional breakdown over him and he decides to try the hug. Cue a massive explosion of Harpy's old magic going off and the distraction helping to calm her enough that he can finally apologize to her.
  • At the end of Chapter 5, Harpy gives one to Humphrey when he goes berserk shifting into his various beastly forms as a bad reaction to Halesia's barrier spell to keep monsters out of Podunkello.
• Crossover: A non-canon one off with Skadi drawn by Brianne herself. It ends with Skadi blowing up Harpy, Opal and Ash.
• Crush Blush: Humphrey, Opal, and eventually Harpy have this in spades.
• Dance of Romance: Humphrey and Harpy share a cute do-over dance before the start of his birthday tea party.
• Deadpan Snarker: Harpy when something or someone (usually Ash or the town brats) annoy her.
• Evil-Detecting Cat: Harpy mentions that Pumpkin gets moody when dragons are nearby.
• Diving Save: Needed twice in Chapter 1. Actually successful the second time!
• Eaten Alive: Dude Bro tries to fight a dragon. It doesn't end well.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The comic generally avoids actual swears but right near the start of chapter 1, Ash recalls Humphrey saying "I'm mad about something, someone do shit for me." Later chapters would either resort to Symbol Swearing or Gosh Darn It to Heck! replacements.
  • The old "Character Page" on the Dumm Comics run has some small contradictions with the actual direction of the comic that can't just be attributed to the usual character or plot development. Likely the reason the page didn't migrate over to the archive on the main Harpy Gee website.
• Empathic Weapon: Wolf's sword Howler, which he later gives to Harpy. We're shown early on that she can't properly wield it due to her lack of magic, causing it to go wild when she releases on a monster. In a later flashback we learn that Howler can talk and really doesn't like her.
• Everyone Can See It: Humphrey's sister can see the UST between himself and Harpy after being around them both for less than a day. Opal confirms it's not exactly a secret.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • All over the place. Elves look down on humans, monsters look down on elves and humans, humans look down on anything that isn't human. It's shown this has not always been the case nor is it a universal opinion as plenty of characters are indifferent. The Duke prides keeping Podunkello as a town where any creature is welcome as long as they're friendly. However some of the main characters still have strong prejudices.
  • Wolf seems to really hate humans.
  • Ash at the start of the comic loathes elves and believes them to be thieves. Eventually we find out that belief was passed on by his mother. Ironically, this doesn't entirely extend to monsters as his best childhood friend was Tibia, an ogre.
  • Trigger hates monsters and elves so much he constantly tries to sabotage the festival in Chapter 4 to prevent Tibia or Harpy from winning.
  • Humphrey's family hates monsters enough that they generally just put them down. Which is a bit of a problem for him since he's turning into one and would like not to be killed by his sister.
• Flight of Romance: Happens in the side story Falling for you where Humphrey flies while bridal carrying Harpy to a picnic on top of a tower.
• Forced Transformation: The major conflict for Humphrey in Chapter 4 - he turns into a small, round, bee-like pixie when his opinion of himself hits rock bottom and can't figure out how to change back until near the very end.
• Formerly Fit: Humphrey has noticeably put on weight in the time between Chapters 4 and 5, though he's also bulked up more along with it. Unlike most examples of this trope it's essentially ignored and nobody cares. References to it are very much in passing (like Harpy now wearing his old shirts that don't fit him), with only one direct reference so far in the form of a jab from his sister.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Sanguine: Opal
  • Choleric: Harpy
  • Melancholic: Humphrey
  • Phlegmatic: Ash
• Getting Eaten Is Harmless: Since Pumpkin's stomach is a pocket dimension, this is essentially the case for bug Humphrey when he gets swallowed.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: There's no swearing in the comic, though the word "fart!" is used from time to time as a clear stand in for the F-bomb (especially from Humphrey.)
• Guest Strip: Brianne traditionally took one-month hiatus between chapters and allowed a few guest artists to take over during the down time.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Ash is half-human and half-elf.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: In Chapter 6, Harpy says this to King Alvarius when he informs her that her "boyfriend is coming." He doesn't buy it.
• I Call It "Vera":
  • Ash's sword is called Rusty largely for the notches it has on it. When Harpy mocks him for it, he retorts that it belonged to his father who slew a dragon with it.
  • Harpy begins the comic breaking her personal sword Leafcutter. Wolf grants her his own sword named Howler, which is later shown to be sentient.
• I'm Not Doing That Again: Humphrey keeps saying this after using one of his new powers and hating it. Inevitably, he will have to "do that again".
• Love Epiphany: Harpy at the beginning of Chapter 6. Though she does show signs of it near the end of Chapter 5 as well.
• Magic Eater:
  • Goblin Cats. One nearly wiped out the Elf Kingdom in the distant past. Pumpkin is why Harpy has no magic.
  • Urtica, the plant monster from chapter 3, is another apparent example.
• Motor Mouth: Opal's introduction to Harpy.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
  • All of the ogres we've met are from the Bonebreaker family and each one is named for a different bone in the body. Ironically, Tibia and Femurus are completely friendly vegan bakers. The only one actually living up to the scary name is Maxilar.
  • Trigger Happy. Sure he's a kid, but he's also enough of a menace that the name fits.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Chapter 3, Harpy and Opal confront a plant monster named Urtica and seemingly defeat her. She comes back later and reveals that the two left behind a jar of Happy Honey that the duo were farming for in the hive which Urtica made her lair, which gives her a major power boost when she eats it.
• Nightmare Face: A more benign version, but Humphrey's features become more monstrous if he freaks out in panic or anger.
• Off with His Head!: The snail that Harpy meets in the first comic. Subverted as it grows back a new one after she leaves.
• Oh, Crap!: Harpy when Urtica, the plant monster that attacked Opal, Pumpkin and her earlier returns to exact revenge and reclaim Podunkello as her kingdom.
• Origins Episode: Chapter 2 is largely the backstory for Harpy and the elf kingdom, along with Prince Humphrey and how he came to Podunkello, with a framing story of the two finding they have common circumstances.
• Perpetual Frowner: Pumpkin always seems to have this as a default expression. Likewise Prince Humphrey.
• Pointy Ears: Harpy being an elf, this isn't surprising.
• Pun-Based Title/ Punny Name: You can say Harpy Gee without saying RPG. In fact a lot of the names in the comic have this and allude to an RPG such as the "Save Pint" (Save Point).
• Really Royalty Reveal: It turns out that Ash is the lovechild of Wolf, who is the High Prince of Elves and heir to the Welferingrum throne.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Peepers and Truffles.
• The Runaway:
  • Harpy is revealed to be one from her mentor Wolf after he failed to keep a promise of taking her on one of his expeditions.
  • Humphrey is one as well, due to wanting to hide his transformation from his sister.
• Shell Game: The Duke offers a traditional one as one of the required games needed for the Winter Festival. As it's the Duke, it's naturally rigged. Humphrey, in a ball-shaped bee form, secretly manages to swap out the real ball with himself to ensure Harpy can actually win. She doesn't realize this has happened until near the end of the chapter when she finally learns about Bee Humphrey in the first place and immediately realizes he must have helped her win the rigged game.
• Shipper on Deck: The Duke. It's to the point he used Blackmail to force Humphrey to dance with Harpy. Others like Opal and Ash tend to leave when they sense a moment.
• Shout-Out:
  • Opal's pretty much this comic's version of Kiki.
  • Humphrey's mom looks suspiciously similar to Princess Peach.
  • Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld gets quite a few.
  • The owner of the Tailor? Tina. Made extremely obvious when you actually see the sign for it.
  • "Ash? Catch him!"
  • Trigger, Hotdog, and Zipper are dressed similarly to the protagonists of Legend of Mana, The Legend of Zelda, and Final Fantasy VII respectively.
• Sibling Rivalry: Humphrey and his sister Princess Halesia. The former honestly doesn't care about it but the latter loves to flaunt her "superiority" over him since he's in a local village while she runs a castle in the Capital. In fact she was the one who engineered Lizard Guy leading to the dragons to crash his party as a "joke". Humphrey naturally isn't amused. She's also a powerful sorceress while Humphrey might be turning into a monster.
• Something Else Also Rises: When Harpy is overjoyed at the prospect of finally trying Humphrey's Golden Mushroom Soup, she spontaneously hugs him. As a response, Humphrey's wings and antennas pop out, along with a Luminescent Blush and heart-shaped Wing Ding Eyes.
• Spit Out a Shoe: When a guard is Eaten Alive by a dragon, it spits his now flaming skull out (which is even making a frowny face).
• The Stoic: Prince Humphrey, though he falls into Not So Stoic when he gets his birthday present from the Elf Queen.
• Stomach of Holding: Pumpkin has a massive one, later revealed to be an entire pocket dimension. He frequently spits out weapons, food, and books for Harpy.
• Swallowed Whole: Happens to Humphrey in chapter 4 when Pumpkin eats him in bug form.
• Time Skip: About a year between Chapters 4 and 5, corresponding with a similar amount of time that passed in the real world when the comic did a hiatus.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Harpy says it herself when the party finds out Creepy Lizard Guy practically led the dragons right to them.
    Harpy: What kind of moron steals gold from a dragon's nest?!
  • Likewise Dude Bro for attacking Goldie by himself.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After Humphrey manages to will himself to change into an ogre to catch a falling Harpy and Trigger. Trigger just freaks out about him being an and Harpy proceeds to kick him. While Harpy is revealed to have been acting on instinct due to a traumatic event and is genuinely remorseful, Trigger remains miserable and ungrateful.
• Un-Sorcerer: Harpy, due to Pumpkin eating her magic. She can't use her plant powers or be healed through magical means, but she is immune to magical charms.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Dragons are nearly indestructible... except for their whiskers. Cutting one off won't kill it but it will make it panic enough that it will leave you alone.
• Wham Episode:
  • During the dragon fight in Chapter 1 Humphrey reveals he can sprout wings.
  • Near the end of Chapter 2, Harpy and Humphrey read the present Queen Argema gave to the latter to which she theorizes he might be turning into a monster.
  • In Chapter 3, Harpy and Opal head out to collect some more happy honey but while investigating the hive they come across a plant monster who reveals that she's feasted on elven villages before, and it's implied that Harpy's original hometown may have met the same grisly fate.
  • Chapter 3: Ash was actually sent to the Duke as a gardener by his mother. But wanting to prove himself, he faked the letter claiming she wanted him to be a "guard". Likewise the sword he uses wasn't given to him like he claimed, he took it against his mother's wishes.
  • Chapter 4 Pg 62 ("Fairy and Tail"): Harpy, Ash, and Humphrey (unknowingly to the former two as he had unwittingly transformed himself into a bee like creature and hiding out in Harpy's basket) attend a puppet show that tells of the Merry Party, a fairy tale the two heard when they were kids. However they find out two of characters within the story are the Duke and Wolf, their mentors. The reason they never realized till now because it had been a long time since they heard the story.
  • Ch 4, Pg 80 {"A Ghost Story") Humphrey is eaten by Pumpkin while he's still in bug form and lands in his "stomach". While exploring, he comes right upon Harpy's magic in the form of her child self.
  • ("Operation Cow Patty") Due to Trigger's actions, he causes a stampede that goes out of control and Harpy and Ash try to save him. Harpy uses her bow to sling herself to grab Trigger but didn't take into account how they were going to land. Just as they're about to hit the ground. Humphrey, who was riding in Harpy's jacket pocket, begs himself to change back to normal... and suddenly does so into an ogre, saving the pair. Implying his "monster transformations" are a form of shapeshifting magic.
• Wham Line:
  • This one in Chapter 3:
    Plant Monster: Podunkello? Is that the name they gave that silly old village? It must be filled with new morsels...Are there anymore elves there like your little friend? Oh how I miss those days of an elf village smorgasbord.
  • From Chapter 4's "A Ghost Story"
    Humphrey: (After Pumpkin eats him while he's still in bug form and exploring his "stomach") Merry Party Adventure Books? Who reads this garbage?
    ???: I do!
    Humphrey: Well you should know these books are full of—lies?
    ???: Down here, Mr. Bee!
    Humphrey: G-G-G-G-H-H-HARPY?!
    Child Harpy: Who's Harpy?
• Wham Shot: On page 65 of chapter 4, we see Humprey and Halesia as little kids again...only with brown hair, looking like identical, totally normal kids, instead of white haired and Halesia looking like she does in other flashbacks.
• Witch Doctor: Opal, a rather strange variant in that she doesn't look like the archetype (apparently it's a separate thing, she's a witch that happens to be a doctor) and uses a shovel to fly around.

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